These five gears and wheels could drive to her/But this carriageway can't take me there

As some of you may know, I have recently become obsessed with two documentaries on BBC4 on Thursday nights. I think it's just a general fault of my personality that I become obsessed with things. Both of them concern travel, especially in cars. This week, 'Touring Britain' used 1930s and 1960s Shell driving guides to explore Cornwall and Dorset, and it was a lovely way of seeing how people embraced the changing face of the landscape to include motors, depsite their (well-founded) fears of change.

Secondly, 'Michael Smith's Drivetime' took a look at people who live on the road; funfair families, lorry drivers. He grows more angry at roads and cars with every episode, making me question why he decided to do the program in the first place, but his lyrical style and surprisingly fluid conceptions of how roads changed Britain make it a worhtwhile watch.

It's a fact that driving changes your life; I recently passed my test and see the changes in my life all the time. I even listen to music and wonder whether it would be good to drive to - for example the glorious 'Tonight' by Franz Ferdinand. I bought the two disc edition, which comes with the dub version of the album; almost a 'Hyde' to disc one's 'Jekyll'. I highly recommend doing so, as the second disc, entitled 'Blood' is almost another album, so it's great value- and the dub versions are fantastically weird and moody.

However, as far as driving to music goes, I did what everyone should, and made a playlist on my iPod consisting of 'Cars' by Gary Numan and several other care related tunes; 'Backseat Love' by NERD, 'On The Motorway' and subsequently 'Back on The Motorway' by Metronomy were in there too. Since my little car has a tape deck, I tend to waver between using the tape/iPod adapter and using 50p tapes I pick up from oxfam. There is also something to be said for the mixtape, the lost art of romance in music. I'm loving the tape, to be honest, and all of its bohemian, 90's excellence. Plus, it stops me being tempted to change tracks while driving, a proper safety plus.

Beep. Sq.